1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a probe, and a system and method for use with the probe, for obtaining medical diagnostic and monitoring information from persons and others using the probe.
2. Background Art
Doctor-patient relationships are as old as human civilization itself. Over the centuries this relationship has undergone, surprisingly enough, very little change. One way or another the patient and the doctor came into contact with each other in person. This process was called a patient visit or doctor visit, as the case may be. From the very beginning of this patient-doctor interaction, a certain format and structure evolved and later this was laid down as a stipulated discipline in the practice of medicine. The doctor interrogates the patient in a methodical way, the patient provides the answers, which in fact, is the history of the evolution of the patient's illness. The doctor then examines the patient, makes crucial observations and gathers diagnostic data, or information, which are the fingerprints of the illness the patient is suffering from. An intellectual process ensues in the doctor's mind, where he correlates the history of the illness with the diagnostic information he gathered and the conclusion he arrives at, essentially, is the diagnosis of the patient's malady.
Over the years, innovations like the telegraph, the telephone, fax machines and of late, the e-mail and the Internet, has enhanced the patient-doctor relationship quite substantially. These innovations have curtailed the need for more frequent personal visits, by the patient or the doctor, as the case may be. Doctors on their part however, always prefer to speak to the patient and gather vital diagnostic information personally by themselves, even when the patient is located remotely from the doctor. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,224,548 and 6,248,064, assigned to the assignee of the present application, disclose diagnostic probes and systems for collecting and transmitting diagnostic information to a remote location. The probes disclosed in those patents are capable of generating 3, 5 and 7 leadwire scenarios. While these scenarios are excellent for providing emergency diagnosis, a thorough examination, such as one that is typically conducted during a physical or routine check-up, typically calls for the generation of at least 10 leadwires so that at least an 11 lead EKG, and preferably a full conventional 12 lead EKG, can be generated.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an inexpensive, simple to use, and portable probe device, system and method that could gather diagnostic/monitoring information, including at least a 10 leadwire EKG to enable generation of an 11 lead EKG, and preferably a 12 lead EKG.